When giving a patient an infusion or blood transfusion or performing extracorporeal blood circulation in surgery, it is necessary to form a channel (transport line) for transporting a liquid such as a drug solution or blood. Transport lines generally are formed by connecting containers, various types of instruments, feed tubes, and the like. Also, when a drug solution to be administered to a patient is injected into a drug solution bag (container), it is necessary to connect the drug solution bag and a syringe or the like. In this way, a male connector and a female connector are used to interconnect different members detachably.
One known example of a female connector used in this application is a needleless port that has a disk-shaped partition wall member (hereinafter referred to as a “septum”) that is made of an elastic material such as rubber and has a linear slit (incision) formed in the central portion (e.g., see Patent Document 1). By inserting a tubular male luer (male member), which does not have a sharp metal needle such as an injection needle attached thereto, into the slit in the septum, the needleless port and the male luer can be put in communication with each other. The slit in the septum immediately closes when the male luer is withdrawn from the needleless port.
There are cases where the drug solution contains a drug designated as a dangerous drug, such as some anticancer drugs. There are also cases where blood contains a pathogen or the like. Accordingly, it is necessary to avoid a situation where a connected male connector and female connector unintentionally become separated, and as a result a liquid such as a drug solution or blood leaks out and comes into contact with the operator's finger or the like, or the operator inhales vapor from the liquid.
In view of this, a male connector with a lock mechanism 900 has been proposed in which, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, a male luer 910 is provided with a lock mechanism for maintaining a state in which the male luer 910 is connected to a needleless port (e.g., see Patent Documents 2 to 4). This lock mechanism includes a pair of lock levers 930 arranged so as to be approximately parallel to the male luer 910 and sandwich the male luer 910. The lock levers 930 are connected to a base end portion 919 of the male luer 910 via support pieces 931 provided at an approximately central position in the lengthwise direction of the lock levers 930. A claw 934 that engages with the needleless port is formed on one end of each of the lock levers 930, on the surface on the side that opposes the male luer. The end portions of the lock levers 930 on the side not provided with the claws 934 are operation portions 935 for operating the lock levers. When the operation portions 935 of the pair of lock levers 930 are pressed toward each other, the support pieces 931 undergo elastic deformation, and the lock levers 930 become displaced in the direction in which the claws 934 move away from the male luer 910. Numeral 920 indicates an approximately cylindrical hood that surrounds the male luer 910 and is fixed to the base end portion 919. The pair of lock levers 930 are arranged in notches provided in the hood 920. Numeral 915 indicates a tubular portion that is in communication with the male luer 910 and is for connection to a flexible tube (not shown).
As shown in FIG. 10, the male luer 910 is inserted into a septum 951 of a needleless port 950, and the claws 934 provided on the tips of the pair of lock levers 930 are engaged with a step on the outer circumferential face of the needleless port 950. Accordingly, the state of connection of the needleless port 950 and the male luer 910 is locked. Even if the male connector 900 and the needleless port 950 are pulled away from each other, the male connector 900 and the needleless port 950 cannot be separated since the claws 934 of the lock levers 930 are engaged with the needleless port 950. The male connector 900 and the needleless port 950 can be separated by applying force F1 to the operation portions 935 of the pair of lock levers 930 in a direction in which they approach each other, so as to displace the lock levers 930 and cancel the engagement between the claws 934 of the lock levers 930 and the needleless port 950.